10/31/11

I can just picture the restaurant server looking at this receipt and wondering: "Who is this person"? Perhaps its one of the cast members of "The Big Bang" or maybe a math teacher or one of the millions of very unusal people out there. Who knows? There is nothing wrong with being "intelligent", as long as you don't put others down. Some people who are blessed with an above average mind can be sensible and very reasonable human beings. Here is an example of this...

WEB: Acts Chapter 13
[4] So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus. [5] When they were at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They had also John as their attendant. [6] When they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar Jesus, [7] who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of understanding. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul, and sought to hear the word of God.[8] But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn aside the proconsul from the faith. [9] But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on him, [10] and said, “Full of all deceit and all cunning, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? [11] Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season!”

Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him. He went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. [12] Then the proconsul, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

A procounsul was a "somebody"! He had real power and authority in the Roman world. He both heard the teaching and saw the miracle and believed. He used his intelligence wisely. Christianity is for the learned as well as the uneducated. If there is any doubt in your mind, read the book of Romans; its like reading a book about logic. The tip in the picture is a numerical symbol for 3.14 (rounded), but personally, I prefer to think about a real pie myself (and not a pie-in-the-face, either). Life should not be over analyzed, just accepted. Humm, isn't that exactly what Sergius Paulus did?

Isa 17:1 The burden of Damascus: "Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap.

Isa 17:2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken. They will be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

Isa 17:3 The fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria. They will be as the glory of the children of Israel," says Yahweh of Armies.

Isa 17:4 "It will happen in that day that the glory of Jacob will be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh will become lean.

Isa 17:5 It will be like when the harvester gathers the wheat, and his arm reaps the grain. Yes, it will be like when one gleans grain in the valley of Rephaim.

Isa 17:6 Yet gleanings will be left there, like the shaking of an olive tree, two or three olives in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost branches of a fruitful tree," says Yahweh, the God of Israel.

Isa 17:7 In that day, people will look to their Maker, and their eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.

Isa 17:8 They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither shall they respect that which their fingers have made, either the Asherim, or the incense altars.

Isa 17:9 In that day, their strong cities will be like the forsaken places in the woods and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the children of Israel; and it will be a desolation.

Isa 17:10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your strength. Therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set out foreign seedlings.

Isa 17:11 In the day of your planting, you hedge it in. In the morning, you make your seed blossom, but the harvest flees away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

Isa 17:12 Ah, the uproar of many peoples, who roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters!

Isa 17:13 The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters: but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far off, and will be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.

Isa 17:14 At evening, behold, terror! Before the morning, they are no more. This is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who rob us.

Isa 18:1 Ah, the land of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia;

Isa 18:2 that sends ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of papyrus on the waters, saying, "Go, you swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide!"

Isa 18:3 All you inhabitants of the world, and you dwellers on the earth, when a banner is lifted up on the mountains, look! When the trumpet is blown, listen!

Isa 18:4 For Yahweh said to me, "I will be still, and I will see in my dwelling place, like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."

Isa 18:5 For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and he will cut down and take away the spreading branches.

Isa 18:6 They will be left together for the ravenous birds of the mountains, and for the animals of the earth. The ravenous birds will summer on them, and all the animals of the earth will winter on them.

Isa 18:7 In that time, a present will be brought to Yahweh of Armies from a people tall and smooth, even from a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of Yahweh of Armies, Mount Zion.

Isa 19:1 The burden of Egypt: "Behold, Yahweh rides on a swift cloud, and comes to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence; and the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst.

Isa 19:2 I will stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians, and they will fight everyone against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

Isa 19:3 The spirit of Egypt will fail in its midst. I will destroy its counsel. They will seek the idols, the charmers, those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards.

Isa 19:4 I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord. A fierce king will rule over them," says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

Isa 19:5 The waters will fail from the sea, and the river will be wasted and become dry.

Isa 19:6 The rivers will become foul. The streams of Egypt will be diminished and dried up. The reeds and flags will wither away.

Isa 19:7 The meadows by the Nile, by the brink of the Nile, and all the sown fields of the Nile, will become dry, be driven away, and be no more.

Isa 19:8 The fishermen will lament, and all those who fish in the Nile will mourn, and those who spread nets on the waters will languish.

Isa 19:9 Moreover those who work in combed flax, and those who weave white cloth, will be confounded.

Isa 19:10 The pillars will be broken in pieces. All those who work for hire will be grieved in soul.

Isa 19:11 The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish. The counsel of the wisest counselors of Pharaoh has become stupid. How do you say to Pharaoh, "I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?"

Isa 19:12 Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you now; and let them know what Yahweh of Armies has purposed concerning Egypt.

Isa 19:13 The princes of Zoan have become fools. The princes of Memphis are deceived. They have caused Egypt to go astray, who are the cornerstone of her tribes.

Isa 19:14 Yahweh has mixed a spirit of perverseness in the midst of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in all of its works, like a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

Isa 19:15 Neither shall there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm branch or rush, may do.

Isa 19:16 In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble and fear because of the shaking of the hand of Yahweh of Armies, which he shakes over them.

Isa 19:17 The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt. Everyone to whom mention is made of it will be afraid, because of the plans of Yahweh of Armies, which he determines against it.

Isa 19:18 In that day, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to Yahweh of Armies. One will be called "The city of destruction."

Isa 19:19 In that day, there will be an altar to Yahweh in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Yahweh at its border.

Isa 19:20 It will be for a sign and for a witness to Yahweh of Armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to Yahweh because of oppressors, and he will send them a savior and a defender, and he will deliver them.

Isa 19:21 Yahweh will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Yahweh in that day. Yes, they will worship with sacrifice and offering, and will vow a vow to Yahweh, and will perform it.

Isa 19:22 Yahweh will strike Egypt, striking and healing. They will return to Yahweh, and he will be entreated by them, and will heal them.

Isa 19:23 In that day there will be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

Isa 19:24 In that day, Israel will be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth;

Isa 19:25 because Yahweh of Armies has blessed them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance."

Isa 20:1 In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it;

Isa 20:2 at that time Yahweh spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go, and loosen the sackcloth from off your waist, and take your shoes from off your feet." He did so, walking naked and barefoot.

Isa 20:3 Yahweh said, "As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia,

Isa 20:4 so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.

Isa 20:5 They will be dismayed and confounded, because of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.

Isa 20:6 The inhabitants of this coast land will say in that day, 'Behold, this is our expectation, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria. And we, how will we escape?' "

2Th 3:1 Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified, even as also with you;

2Th 3:2 and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and evil men; for not all have faith.

2Th 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you, and guard you from the evil one.

2Th 3:4 We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you both do and will do the things we command.

2Th 3:5 May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ.

2Th 3:6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in rebellion, and not after the tradition which they received from us.

2Th 3:7 For you know how you ought to imitate us. For we didn't behave ourselves rebelliously among you,

2Th 3:8 neither did we eat bread from anyone's hand without paying for it, but in labor and travail worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you;

2Th 3:9 not because we don't have the right, but to make ourselves an example to you, that you should imitate us.

2Th 3:10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: "If anyone will not work, neither let him eat."

2Th 3:11 For we hear of some who walk among you in rebellion, who don't work at all, but are busybodies.

2Th 3:12 Now those who are that way, we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

2Th 3:13 But you, brothers, don't be weary in doing well.

2Th 3:14 If any man doesn't obey our word in this letter, note that man, that you have no company with him, to the end that he may be ashamed.

2Th 3:15 Don't count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

2Th 3:16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with you all.

2Th 3:17 The greeting of me, Paul, with my own hand, which is the sign in every letter: this is how I write.